Oxford partnership with UN gender equality movement launches

19 June 2015

Oxford has committed to strong, positive action to achieve gender equality at the University and across the UK and international higher education sectors as an ‘IMPACT Champion’ for UN Women’s HeForShe movement. Oxford signed up to HeForShe during a ceremony at Kellogg College attended by our Visiting Fellow the United Nations Under Secretary-General, and Executive Director of UN Women, Plumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

UN Women launched HeForShe last September with the aim of mobilising one billion men and boys in support of gender equality. The UN has now unveiled world leaders, businesses and universities, including Oxford, as ‘10X10X10’ IMPACT champions for the movement. As a university champion, Oxford has pledged to increase the number of women in senior positions, to build on work creating a safer campus for its whole community and to promote gender equality among its peers in the world’s research-intensive universities.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said: ‘This group of champions have made commitments that will bring immediate, tangible change in their spheres of influence. We believe that their actions will start critical shifts in thinking and behaviour in corporate, academic, and political cultures. We have an ambitious agenda – to reach gender equality by 2030 – and it’s big, authoritative steps like this that will catch people’s attention. Showing how they make transformative change, and reporting back on its scale and effect is part of their commitment in this pilot initiative.’

Read more about the University’s commitment to achieving gender equality.